Small meteor lights up Cagayan sky

MANILA, Philippines — A small, bright meteor lit up skies over the northern Philippines in Cagayan early Thursday as it burned up entering the Earth's atmosphere, the European Space Agency and witnesses said.

The one-meter (3.3-foot) space rock, named 2024 RW1, collided with the Earth's atmosphere shortly after midnight (1639 GMT Wednesday) and caused a "harmless" but "spectacular fireball" over the Philippines' Luzon island, the ESA said.

The meteor, discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, is only the ninth meteor that humans have ever spotted before impact.

Businessman Allan Madelar, 28, told AFP he waited an hour in Gonzaga, a municipality in Luzon, to watch the meteor with a friend.

"It was mesmerising, the color was beautiful. The sky went from black to blue-green to orange and black again," he said.

Video clips posted on Facebook and verified by AFP showed an orange-tailed fireball that briefly illuminated the night sky over Luzon.

Audie de la Cruz, 65, set up his camera on a bridge in Tuguegarao city, 142 kilometers (88 miles) south of Gonzaga, to photograph the celestial spectacle but the fireball died out before he could press the shutter.

"It was like a tadpole with a very big head, and its head was very bright," de la Cruz told AFP.

"I might have failed to photograph it but seeing it was a very unforgettable experience."